


Mistletoe

by iwasfollowingyou



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Christmas, Established Relationship, Holidays, M/M, Mistletoe, donna and cj are little shits who love sam and josh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 22:43:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17109551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwasfollowingyou/pseuds/iwasfollowingyou
Summary: short, self-indulgent holiday one shot because i couldn't stop thinking about sam and josh kissing under the mistletoe





	Mistletoe

Josh shook out his shoulders as he and Sam stepped into the building, the warm air a sharp contrast to the biting wind outside. Sam removed his gloves and stuffed them into his pockets, then unbuttoned his jacket. They nodded in greeting to the agent sitting at the entrance to the west wing. People rushed around them; the familiar chaos was comforting. Josh couldn’t stand to spend too long over on the Hill, even after he had worked there for a few years himself. The White House was much more welcoming, in his opinion, though he would think that those who worked on the Hill would have to disagree with that point of view.

“So, you know that meeting I had yesterday?” Sam asked. They walked in step past the giant Christmas tree.

“Yeah, what was that all about?”

“Some guy named Oscar Filby. I’m blanking on the name of his organization, but he reminded me a lot of my good old friend Robert Engler.”

“Is that the UFO guy?” Josh grinned. Of course Sam would have to deal with the crackpot alien people. At least he had experience in that area.

“Uh-huh. So, this guy is also convinced there’s some massive government conspiracy to hide the existence of extraterrestrial life. And the fact that they visit us, quite often according to him.”

“Has he ever met an alien?”

“He’s heard stories.”

“I see. What did you tell him?” He held the door open for Sam to walk through.

“Well, I tried to explain that as far as I know, the government isn’t trying to hide any aliens from us. But honestly, what do I know? I assume my security clearance isn’t high enough to hear about these things. Maybe we are hiding an entire lab full of aliens somewhere out in the desert.”

“Don’t say that too loudly,” Josh teased, “or they’ll come for you.”

“Welcome back,” Donna said charmingly, leaning against the window separating her desk from Josh’s office. “Did you enjoy your time with Congress?”

Josh raised an eyebrow. “Of course not. What are you so happy for?”

“It's the holiday spirit, Joshua. Just the holiday spirit.”

Sam and Josh exchanged a look, but Sam shrugged, moving past the issue. “Okay,” he said. “Happy holidays, Donna. I’m gonna go back to my office now.” He said a quick goodbye and left. Donna pouted slightly, returning to her desk. Josh decided not to linger on it and walked into his office, dropping his things onto his desk and removing his jacket. He hung it up on the coatrack, then settled into his chair. The meeting on the Hill had run long, as usual, and he had about a thousand things to catch up on. He wished crazy alien people were all he had to deal with, but he couldn’t be that lucky.

Donna appeared in the doorway a little while later to remind him of the senior staff meeting. Josh cursed and quickly abandoned his work to head to the Oval Office. He had been late for the last three and couldn’t afford to be again, unless he wanted a stern talking-to from Leo. And how Leo loved giving his deputy a stern talking-to. It seemed to be one of the few things Leo McGarry found true joy in (along with anything else that caused Josh pain). Josh greeted Charlie, who waved him into the office. Leo and Bartlet were already waiting inside.

“Good afternoon, Mr. President,” Josh said.

“Josh, you’re early.”

Josh checked his watch. He was thirty seconds ahead of schedule. “I do my best, sir.”

“I’m impressed,” Leo remarked dryly.

“Why don’t you give this same treatment to Sam?” He tried not to whine, but he knew it probably came out that way anyway.

“Because I like Sam.”

“Always good to know I’m Leo’s favorite.” Sam grinned as he entered the room. “Good afternoon, sir.” Josh rolled his eyes. Sam winked at him before sitting down on the couch. Josh sighed dramatically, choosing to remain standing behind the sofa. Toby and CJ joined the group soon after, and they got into it.

“Josh!” Sam called after him as he left the office. Josh stopped and turned back, offering Sam a small smile. “CJ told me I should walk you back to your office.”

“Great, I wonder what she has planned for me.”

“No clue, but it better be good.”

Things were suspiciously normal when they returned to Josh’s office. He searched the area for any hint of one of CJ’s pranks, but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. He stayed on high alert, though, in case he was about to be attacked. Sam was preoccupied with talking about aliens again; apparently he had been more influenced by the UFO guy than he had originally claimed. Josh was only half listening, but kept nodding along with what Sam was saying.

“I mean, I believe in aliens, sure. It’s kind of ridiculous to think that Earth is the only planet in the entire universe with life on it, right? So, statistically, there’s gotta be extraterrestrial life out there _somewhere_. I just don’t think we’ve found it yet. That seems like it would be something kind of hard to cover up, even for the federal government. The government isn’t even that good at cover-ups, anyway. I don’t know any top secret state information, but someone out there does, and the chances of them telling someone else… Anyway, what I mean is that I think aliens would be something too difficult to hide from every—”

“Sam.” They were standing in the doorway to Josh’s office. His stare was fixed on the doorframe above their heads.

“What?” He followed Josh’s gaze upwards. “Is that—”

“Yes, it is,” Donna said, clearly pleased. They looked at her. “Pucker up, lovebirds.”

Josh sputtered. “I don’t— I don’t think that’s, uh, appropriate, you know, for a workplace — we’re professionals, Donna, this is — this is _juvenile_ stuff.”

Donna just crossed her arms, looking at them expectantly. “Holiday law, Joshua. You’re caught under the mistletoe. Kiss your boyfriend.”

He looked at Sam, who was blushing slightly. There was no way they were going to get out of this, not without some intense, unbearable protesting, so he sighed. He leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Sam’s cheek.

“No, no, no. Holiday law.” 

“Really, Donna?”

“Really. It’s quite specific, I think.”

Josh glared at her, but she wasn’t giving in. Sam grabbed him by the shoulder, turning Josh back to face him, and kissed him. Surprised, Josh’s reaction was delayed, but he closed his eyes and returned the kiss. It lasted only a few seconds, but when they pulled away, he knew his cheeks were already bright red. Those who had been close enough to witness it cheered and clapped. Sam smiled sheepishly. 

“Happy holidays?” he offered.

“Indeed they are. Thank you, boys.” Donna returned to her desk. Josh reached up and yanked the mistletoe down. He threw the offending plant towards his desk, and it landed on the floor a few feet away, eliciting a laugh from Sam. He slipped his arm around Josh’s waist and kissed him again, softly. Josh couldn’t pretend to be mad anymore, not when Sam was being so goddamn cute about the whole thing.

“You’re disrupting my work now,” Josh tried to scold him. “I have many important things to attend to, and here you are, preventing me from doing my job.”

“You love when I disrupt your work. But fine, I’m going. I’ll see you later.” He squeezed Josh’s waist lightly before leaving. Josh watched him go, a soft expression on his face.


End file.
